Twittering Tales #106 – 16 October 2018

About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a photo prompt. Your mission, if you choose to accept the challenge, is to tell a story in 280 characters or less. When you write your tale, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale.

A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.

I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing a new prompt. And if for some reason I missed your entry in the Roundup, as I have occasionally done, please let me know. I want to be sure to include your tale.

Finally, have fun!

And REMEMBER…you have 280 characters (spaces and punctuation included), to tell your tale…and a week to do it. I can’t wait to see what you create this week.

Starting us off…“I’m a moron,” Brad groaned.“It’s all the rage!” she said. “You have a chance to get in on the ground floor.”He’d spent his savings on the very first plein air writing kiosk. It became a favorite spot for texters and gamers.“Cool sculpture,” they’d say, smart phones in hand.
~kat
278 Characters

By Martin at Martin Cororan:You ManiacsAfter years of churning out gibberish the apes finally typed the complete works of Shakespeare.The boffins in their lab coats seemed very pleased with themselves.Many moons later Charlton Heston rode along the beach and encountered a semi-submerged Statue of Liberty…Bloody boffins!

By Hayley at The Story Files:Working AirIt was a crazy idea, an office set up outside wouldn’t work! Mr.Cooper believed his team would be more productive without the ‘shackled desk’ atmosphere. It did improve things for awhile but then it rained and nobody wanted to work outside anymore.

By Reena at ReInventions:AlasTickety-Tac ….. the fingers din’t stop rattling the keyboard, and dropping white sheets stained with stories on the sand.But what were the stories?The great drama unfolding on the horizon, of the meek winning battles….Then?They did not live long enough to witness it on Earth.
(276 characters)

By Willow at WillowDot21:NightmareIt was the same nightmare that he’d had for years. He’d arrive at work and not only had the office and carpark gone. In their place, among the weeds were five desks and five typewriters. He pinched himself on the arm as Dr Capaldy had suggested. But this time he didn’t wake up.
(280 Characters)

By The Dark Netizen:TYPEWRITERSA madman once read that monkeys typing on typewriters are bound to produce a novel. And so, he made monkeys type. Everyone mocked him. But, they were all proven wrong. The monkeys produced a masterpiece!The madman stood triumphant, the typewriters stood as relics of his victory.
Character Count: 280

By Michael at Morpethroad:In the house of lost story the keyboards sit idle, awaiting energetic fingers to restore them to life.Each machine is overflowing with tales gallant and brave.They sit idle ready to pour forth the next best seller.A word escapes flops momentarily but gasps a lack of inspiration.
(279 characters)

By Deepa at Sync With Deep:Eye Love Youfor hourswe sat in silenceme and my typewritermy heart was his typewriterand he typed his lovethrough my eyes

By Ramya at And Miles to Go Before I Sleep:Unwritten FateNews headline read –
Want to change your fate? Then excellent opportunity for you!!!
Be the writer of your own destiny.
Write your own fairytale.*
Write the unwritten.*Conditions apply – Fate once written cannot be changed back.Character Count – 223

By Deb at Twenty Four:With care Lola sprinkled the last grains of sand and then, finally satisfied, took a step back, it looked perfect.“What is it for though? Old beat up typewriters in the desert?”She scowled, tourists, they just didn’t comprehend artistic vision.
(247 characters)

By Anurag at Jagahdilmein:The Writers Shall Inherit the Earth“Are you sure these were the last of them?” I asked my General.“Yes Sir,” he replied.I sighed in relief. We’d managed to extract the last group of writers too.Now we could safely go ahead with the invasion & annihilation of Planet Earth as per our plans.
258 characters.

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:The Sand Fly Typing PoolThe experiment had been tried before with monkeys. Now, working with sand flies, it was thought that, eventually, their landing on the row of keyboards must lead to a work worthy of Shakespeare.What a pity Charlie, the office junior, had forgotten to load the platens with paper!
(279 characters)

By Jan at Strange Goings on in the Shed:Ancestral Burial GroundsThe ancestral burial grounds were a place of pilgrimageAnd reflection.An echo of great literary undertakingAnd beauty.And now,The ancestors lay shrouded in memories and silence,For the age of typewriters was all but gone,A distant memory in the minds of the ones that came after.(280 characters

By the Universal Unionist:You already know about the SAS but the existence of an even more secret elite force that fought in WWII has now been revealed by a blogger known only as “agent Kat”. The STS or Special Typewriter Service played a crucial role in undermining and interfering in NAZI signal traffic, I could tell you more but agent Kat has restricted me in revea…..

By the Indie She:The keys on the typewriters rusty as no one touched them.Relics of history,they were consigned to the arid plains of oblivion.Epitome of grander times,when you ruled the keyboard.Time has turned.The travesty of our times that keys rule us ,more smaller and smarter.
(267 characters)

Well done everyone! I was surprised by all the monkeys (and sand fleas) that made their way into this week’s tales. I guess I’m a bit out of touch. But they were great. Very entertaining, some nostalgic, some that made me think.

This week’s odd photo is by Buzz Anderson at Unsplash. I hope you have fun with it. In 280 characters or less of course, and I’ll see you and next week’s roundup! Have a great week!

Twittering Tales #106 – 16 October 2018

Photo by Buzz Anderson at Unsplash.com

The Great Christmas War

“This is the Christmas War exhibit,” droned the tour guide.

“What’s a Christmas?” asked a wide-eyed boy.

“Well,” the tour guide winked, “50 years ago, Christmas was banned because it drove people nuts! Filled ‘em with greed, hate, envy, rage!”

He coulda had class. He coulda been somebody. He coulda been a contender. . Instead he’s dumped. The AI chips removed, disarmed, left with the nearly made it rejects and spares, a decorated mannequin when he coulda been a man he coulda been somebody.

The party rivaled any Brad had attended. The drinks, food, music, and company seduced him; it felt like Mardi Gras, Christmas and Carnival happened today. Brad mistook the witch’s grin for revelry; instead, it was devilry as she stripped them all of humanhood.

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